How can marketers satisfy this unquenchable desire for new content? One technology that helps tackle the need for developing and delivering a constant stream of personalized content to customers is natural language generation (NLG).

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Digital Publishing

The Financial Times Ltd. created an iPad-iPhone app for the Indian market that is available at app.ft.com/india. Users can access all stories on FT.com for free, exclusively in India. The FT India app features content covering Indian and international business news and analysis.

According to Pew Research Center, "50% of adult cell phone owners have apps on their phone." In other words, we have gone app crazy! What was once reserved for the early adopters, gaming companies, or social networks has now become the must-have tool for any business. You have a website, Facebook page, Foursquare deal, and now the time has come to decide... app or no app? In this episode of Content Throwdown! we will explore the pros and cons of building an app. So grab your marketing plan, put on your wrestling gear, and let's hit the mat!

In 2008, Rafat Ali sold ContentNext media--the company behind paidContent.org--to UK-based Guardian News and Media, Co. for a reported $30 million. He left the company in 2010, and now Guardian is looking for a buyer for the property. Based in New York City, the company covers the business of digital media, serving decision makers within the media, entertainment, publishing, advertising, marketing, and technology sectors.

Earlier this week, Penguin Group, part of Pearson Plc., added self-publishing services to Book Country, its community writing site. Self-published authors using the site have allegedly been calling the initiative overpriced, royalty-grabbing, and "truly awful." Book Country's services range from $99 to $549.

Amazon is reportedly looking to entice self-published authors to make their ebooks available in the Kindle store and the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. Amazon is expected to go public with this offer on Thursday, Dec. 1. Amazon is allegedly offering self-published authors the chance to be paid out of a $500,000 fund.

In publishing, small is the new big. An increasing number of publishers are releasing e-singles -- short works published digitally on a variety of platforms -- to generate ancillary revenue, build brand equity, and reach new audiences. Among those joining the e-singles market are Hearst, Rodale, Princeton University Press, and as recently as last week, Penguin.

Whether you are an experienced digital publishing machine or a novice brand looking for the benefits of content marketing, you most likely need the help of freelance writers to help tell your story. You may find that you need help developing ongoing content - or that you need additional content producers to keep up with the velocity.

Amazon announced that Kindle Cloud Reader, the HTML5-based web app that lets customers read their Kindle books in their web browser, is now available for Mozilla Firefox. With Kindle Cloud Reader, customers can read Kindle books instantly using only their web browser - online or offline - with no downloading or installation required. As with all Kindle apps, Kindle Cloud Reader automatically synchronizes your Kindle library, as well as your last page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights for all of your Kindle books. To make it easy and seamless to discover new books, Kindle Cloud Reader includes an integrated, touch optimized store, allowing customers one click access to a vast selection of books.

In a recent Q3 earnings report and call with shareholders, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong was positive, stressing the benefits of the company's acquisition of The Huffington Post and the success of its local news network AOL Patch-which the company hopes to expand from 500 sites to 1,000 sites.

NewspaperDirect, Inc. released updates to its PressReader app, which enables iPad and iPhone users to read more than 2,000 digital newspapers, based on the upgraded iOS 5 platform. The updates to the user interface are designed to take advantage of the improved speeds and the high resolution touch screens found on the iPhone 4S and iPad 2.

HarperCollins Publishers is in the midst of acquiring Thomas Nelson, Inc., a Christian publishing company. The deal is expected to be finalized by the end of the year; the amount of which has not been disclosed. Thomas Nelson bundles free digital and audio editions with the purchase of any print book.

Social media, tablets, and eReaders have not only changed the publishing model, they have given authors and publishers a whole new avenue to engage readers beyond books. Now, with the launch of interactive websites that accompany these books, such as J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter experience, Pottermore, and the continued growth and acceptance of mobile apps, the list of digital possibilities is getting longer.

UK-based social reading site, Anobii is now making it possible for users to buy books directly from the site. Already backed by HMV, HarperCollins UK, Penguin UK and Random House UK, Anobii recently signed with 10 publishers to allow its users to buy through the site. By the end of this month, Anobii will be able to sell e-books from participating publishers which include Penguin, Random House and HarperCollins, along with Hachette, Pan Macmillan, Bloomsbury, Canongate, Faber, Wiley and Harlequin UK.

HighWire Press partnered with TEMIS S.A. to integrate TEMIS' Luxid software within HighWire's ePublishing Platform. The solution is intended to provide automated content annotation, enrichment, and linking to HighWire's customers. The integration is expected to accelerate product development and time-to-market for both web and mobile.

The Star Tribune, Minnesota's largest newspaper, will launch a metered paywall on its site Nov. 1. Under the paywall, readers who do not subscribe to the print paper will have to pay 99 cents per week to access more than 20 articles a month. Regular print subscribers have free access to the full site, mobile site, and apps.

Amazon's Kindle Fire, releasing November 15th, is setting more than a little spark in the world of mobile devices. The original Kindle was a dedicated ereader but with Fire, Amazon is moving squarely into tablet territory. And it's a good thing too!

Condé Nast announced increases in new subscription sales across the nine digital editions it offers on Apple's Newsstand. The iOS 5 Newsstand feature for magazine and newspaper apps has only been live for 2 weeks, and yet Condé Nast reports subscription sales are up 268% in comparison with the 8 weeks prior to the Newsstand launch.

A new social reading app called Subtext launched for the iPad. As reported on MediaBistro, users of the free app can read ebooks and discuss them with a network of friends within the pages of the ebook itself. Readers can add comments and links and participate in discussions as they would on other social networking sites, such as Facebook

WikiLeaks suspended operations due to a financial blockade that has cut off 95% of its revenue, according to Slate. Co-founder Julian Assange announced that if the blockade continues, WikiLeaks will be unable to continue operations into next year, and said WikiLeaks will now focus on fundraising efforts to maintain cash flow.

As the journalism industry continues to face declining readership, newspapers such as the St. Petersburg Times are relying on websites to engage readers. While Tampabay.com has been up and running for years, it had never really taken advantage of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to grow its traffic. When it decided to start taking baby steps with SEO, link building, and social networking, Tampabay.com had some early successes, but it quickly realized that in order to reach its full potential, it would have to develop a much more organized and holistic SEO approach.

It seems baffling to me that in 2011 there are media companies that are still so clueless about the realities of digital publishing. In fact, many act surprised, as though it's something new that just dropped into their laps rather than a transition that's been happening over the past decade.

When considering the future of web content management (WCM), it is perhaps helpful to remember that the technology is designed to systemize and automate that which has long been practiced by retailers and expected by consumers in the real world. Just as a shopper who enters a sporting goods store and asks for help finding a fishing rod might beat a hasty retreat if the clerk brings back a soccer ball, visitors to websites expect to be listened to and to receive personalized service. When you figure that an online shopper is not a car drive away from another store but rather just a few quick keyboard strokes away from another website, the pressure to get WCM right mounts exponentially.